Since 6.0.1 Marshmallow, Android has had a cool feature whereby you tap the power button twice in quick succession and the camera app will open. It's a handy feature, and one I use reasonably regularly to quickly snap a photo.

However, ever since it was introduced, there's been an issue: if the phone or tablet is unlocked and the power button is double tapped, the device will first lock and then open the camera app, rather than just opening the camera. This behaviour is definitely present in Marshmallow, and we're reasonably certain it was the same for N Developer Preview 2 (DP2), although we can't actually find a device to test on (if you have DP2 and find this isn't the case, let us know in the comments). In Android N Developer Preview 3 (DP3) this is now fixed - a double tap of the power button while the device is unlocked opens the camera app without locking the device first.

For the sake of completeness, I have compiled a list of what happens when the double tap to open camera action is invoked on DP3:

As you can see, the feature now works as expected. It's not a massive thing, but it means that the camera can now be opened very quickly without your phone locking itself. In terms of general Android polish, that's a very good thing.

Yes, I noticed that yesterday when snapping pics. While it's ridiculous that it took them this long to fix this, I'm glad it's no longer an issue. BTW, to answer your question, I was daily driving NP2 pretty extensively, and the phone would indeed lock if you double-pressed the power button from inside the software.

Phil Oakley

Cool, thank you!

MaximumFish

Why am I only just finding out about this feature now?

Phil Oakley

It's one of those features you either stumble upon by accident or find on AP and think "oh, that's cool" :P

This has been driving me nuts, thank god the fixed it. I usually want to share a picture I've just snapped and that has not been possible before since the device was locked out of everything except the camera. I've tapped the fingerprint sensor in desperation hoping it would let me use all features, but nope. This is a much better solution. Although I hope they add the ability to unlock the device if I opened the camera when phone was locked as well. Preferably showing the share button and when pressed it triggers an unlock prompt.

UniBroW

Using 6.0.1 on my Nexus 6 and it's not licking me out anymore, maybe this was a fix to the camera app itself?

Phil Oakley

Oooh...that's interesting. I shall investigate and get back to you!

Adithya Pc

Using the latest version of Google Camera on my Nexus 6P, Still locks the phone before opening the Camera in the incognito mode.

(If it matters I'm still on April security updates)

Phil Oakley

Have you got 'Power Button Instantly Locks' enabled in Settings?Security>Screen Lock Settings (tap on the cog next to screen lock)? That apparently causes the phone not to lock if it's turned off.

Adithya Pc

Yes. I had it turned on, Disabling it does open the Camera in a normal mode as mentioned in this article without locking the screen. :)

Personally I think it should work without disabling that option.

VK

are you on N DP3?

UniBroW

coming from the screen off, double tapping unlocks my phone though I have smart lock enabled with my watch

Can't be the camera app, because I have Manual Camera installed and when I double-tap it comes up and asks me which one I want to use. So this is behavior is before the app loads. Definitely seems new to N DP3.

Jordan L

slow motion on N6P still not working right (after a day or so of uptime). records at at low frame rate... I think it's broken for everyone, and people who say "it works for me!" don't really know that they are looking at not-smooth playback. remember, it works perfectly after a reboot.. in 24+ hours later it becomes choppy.

tmartin

N5X. Never have had this issue. From an unlocked phone double tap has always reliably brought me to the camera. (Whether or not the camera actually initializes is another story... If I want to get a pic of my son doing something funny- it crashes and he stops doing whatever it was before I can get it going. If it's something static that won't change quickly, camera works fine.)

What I really want is when the phone is locked but I'm in the camera, I hit the finger print to unlock the phone and it unlocks into the OS. For whatever reason, that's what I naturally do so I'm constantly getting caught by that.

Rodrigo Chiong

Try opening the camera with a double click in an unlocked phone, then hitting gome to go to the launcher. In my N5X using the double click gesture re-locks the device and launches the camera.

Rodrigo Chiong

Nevermind, found the settings to change this behaviour!

tmartin

Wow. I'm pretty stupid. Didn't realize what the article was referring to. Yes, I have experienced that and it is much better now that I am on DP3. Thanks for pointing that out.

Rodrigo Chiong

Just tried this in my 5X with 6.0.1 and you get the same behaviour, no more locking when launching the camera!!

In Security settings:
- Set "Power button instantly locks" to "Off"
- If you still want your phone to lock when turning the screen off, set "Automatically lock" to "Inmediately".

Rod

...

deepdvd

Thanks, that works perfectly.

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nxtiak

Double Press the Power button, not Double Tap.

mattcoz

Never noticed this because of smart lock.

Michael Phillips

Hey guys. this double tap power to open camera has never worked for me. on 6 & N beta. Tried Security settings:- Set "Power button instantly locks" to "Off", and evrything else to no avail. Is there something im missing? Thanks